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It seems when Netflix says “early 2012” it really does mean early 2012, not “before April” – Netflix is now live and kicking in the UK and Ireland. The streaming service will set you back a pretty reasonable £5.99 a month, and there’s even a free one-month trial to let you test it out.
It’s unknown what the difference in content is between the Netflix library we’re seeing and what’s available in the US at the moment; if you sign in with a US account in the UK you get a message about “some of the content being different while travelling”, so I’m assuming there must be differences like there are between the US and Canadian Netflix. At first glance it looks to have a sizable content stash for you to work your way through though, including a load of British stuff from the likes of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4:
“At launch, Netflix is offering films and TV programmes from All3Media, the BBC, CBS, Channel 4′s 4oD, Disney UK & Ireland, ITV, Lionsgate UK, MGM, Miramax, Momentum Pictures, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox and Viacom International Media Networks.”
Apart from using a PC or Mac, you can stream Netflix to a load of devices too, with the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 all supported; so if you’ve got a console under your TV you’re already good to go. Samsung’s Smart TVs; some of LG’s home theatre systems and Blu-ray players, and “Smart TV adapters” (Roku, WD TV Live and the Philips HD media player) are on the list too. But for the icing on the cake, both iOS and Android devices are also catered for meaning you can get your Netflix streaming wherever you have Wi-Fi; that’s in bed with an iPad for me.
Spotify-style Facebook integration is there for those that want to share with their friends that they’ve been watching 30 episodes of Dirty Sanchez when they should have been working — I’ll be turning that off immediately then.
Curiously absent from Netflix’s supported device list is the Apple TV, which is a tad strange considering it’s been available in the US for ages, but maybe it’ll be along a little later when Apple gets its arse in gear. Netflix certainly compares favourably to Amazon’s LoveFilm pricing too — to get unlimited streaming you have to pony up for the unlimited “2 out at a time” package at £9.99 a month. At any rate, considering Netflix will set you back just £6 a month for unlimited streaming and a free trial is on offer, it’s worth checking out for a month at the very least. Your move Amazon. [Netflix]
Lovefilm is £4.99 a month for unlimited streaming but doesn’t include DVD rental.
Checked out Netflix this morning and it’s pretty good. Got alot more decent content than I thought it would!
Loveflim does the same service for £1 less a month, and has the option of upgrading and downgrading to and from a full disk-by-post service too.
So no thanks….
I’m looking at LF and can’t find the same service for £1 less….
Plus the full disc service appears to cost near double this.
Lovefilm’s disc rental service is great, but (at the moment) its video streaming service seems to pale in comparison to Netflix’s. The selection on Lovefilm, in my opinion, isn’t as good, and there’s no option to stream in HD.
Does the uk version have things like star trek and buffy?
Apple TV missing from the device list, thats weird because the Netflix spokesmen on BBC Breakfest this morning said very clearly it was available for Apple TV
It’s also on the lead image at the top of this post. Right on the front screen of the UK site.
Strange right? I’m guessing it just got left out of the press release.
Strange, It’s appeared on my AppleTV. I haven’t signed up yet to try it but I will be later!
Good to know, I presumed it would be. It’s just a case of Apple flicking a switch on its end to enable it.
To grab the £4.99 instant only option you can visit this location … The sign-up page is a lot clearer than the pricing & packages page.
The only differentiator here will be content, as I imagine the two will be competing very closely on price. Lovefilm is a bit limited with the amount of good content, which is far below the advertised ~5,500 online movies claimed. A lot are shorts, tv programs, or low quality flicks that went straight to dvd/tv. Plus the time to market is also a factor. Lovefilm charge a premium for dvds that are just released – making paying customers wait for the high revenue honeymoon to end before making the films available, if at all.
Can’t reiterate this enough. The content on LoveFilm is pretty poor, hopefully the competition will dive them to do better.
Apologies – link I added wasn’t included in the comment. Google for “lovefilm promotion code LFINSTANT” and hit the link on the lovefilm blog.
Just had a look – it looks like it’s going to end up being changed:
“Our future plans on pricing are to some extent commercially sensitive but also its something we will keep under review depending on customer feedback around the service and how much great content we are able to keep on adding. Our goal is to provide a service which customers will consider to be excellent value for money so that lots of people can use and enjoy it – particulary in these austere times! The lowest price point which combines unlimited streaming (which we are now calling LOVEFiLM Instant) with our traditional DVD service (LOVEFiLM by Post) is now £7.99, so you can expect it to be less than that. Whatever we do, we will be sure to give plenty of notice to those customers who have already joined.”
Looks like they’re just doing it to pull people from NetFlix. Will probably end up being at least the same cost.
Going to end up as a content battle I think as opposed to a cost one.
I’m going to give this a try. I have a LoveFilm subscription, but they don’t offer a streaming service to android tablets which I’ve wanted for ages.
About Bloody Time.
I have to say, I thought it was going to be another one of those scrape-in-at-the-last-minute jobs, arriving on the 31st of March.
Actually, It’s a bit of a weird time to launch it, with all the tech blogs stuffed to overflowing with CES news. It’s does appear to have been covered by everyone, but would have got a lot more attention during a quieter time.
Yeah for sure. They’ve got a media meeting event later today too. Maybe it’s unveiling something device related at CES? Probably not, but I can’t see a better reason for launching now.
On my computer, using my US account in the UK, it says I can sign in, but can’t stream anything outside of the US. On my Nook, I can stream things, but I can’t see my instant queue.
I went onto the website and found at the bottom it says other devices you can steam from. If you click it there is an apple tv logo.
What I’d like to know is whether these deals that Netflix are making for brand new never-been-broadcast TV series like the new series of Arrested Development will mean they’ll become included when they’re released as well? Or will they just make a deal with FX/Sky? If it’s the former I may have to throw away my Lovefilm subscription!
Currently streaming Battle Royale on the PS3 and the quality is very good. However, I’m rather disappointed in the titles available – not much on there I would watch/watch again.
I’ve just got home from work and signed up too. Won’t be cancelling my Sky Movies any time soon unfortunately!
All well and good, but… why do I have to use a Facebook account to sign up?!
Panic over. If you log out of Facebook on your PC then you get an option to sign up with just an email address.